A bit of unhappy news (has there been any other type lately?) about the Tampa area foreclosure situation. As I reported the home sales story yesterday, a prominent Carrollwood Realtor told me that distressed properties will dominate the market this year:

Tampa real estate broker Jim Knetsch of RE/MAX ACR Elite Group said foreclosures make up close to half of sales in some areas. Most of the purchasers are bargain-hunting investors with ready cash.

He expects a further wave of foreclosures to hit the market as banks find agents to list homes they've already repossessed. Until more homesteaders appear to suck up the surplus, Knetsch expects home prices to remain strained.

"It's just a race to the bottom right now," Knetsch said. "Where the bottom is, I don't know."

Of course, a large barrier to home ownership has been the tight credit market. So what if rates are 5 percent if you need to raise a 20 percent downpayment in a bum economy?

The housing market basically needs a restoration of the Three "C"s: Confidence, Credit and Cash.